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<p class="heading"><span class="smallhead">Professional</span><br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Microsoft Robotics Developer Studio<br />
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<h1>Line Following</h1>

<h2>Purpose</h2>
<p>
Line Following is commonly used to teach basic robotics and also in various
robotics competitions. It is a fairly basic task that is usually done using
light sensors or IR sensors.
</p>

<h2>Description</h2>
<p>
To create a &quot;floorplan&quot; with a line to be
followed requires some tricks in the Simulator. A Line Mesh program
was developed for this chapter that takes a bitmap image as input
and creates a mesh that can be used on the ground in the Simulator.
In addition, Simulated Photo Cells were created using simulated
Webcams and attached to an iRobot Create.
</p>
<p>
There is an alternative approach using the Maze Simulator which is explained
in the <a href="../Chapter9/LineFollowing.htm">Line Following</a> section
in Chapter 9. However, this only shows you how to create a floorplan using
the Maze Simulator, it does not provide a Line Following service. You would
have to use the Webcam on the Pioneer robot to locate and follow the line.
</p>

<p>
The following is a screenshot of an iRobot Create following a line:
</p>
<img src="Images/FollowLine_Sim.JPG" alt="Line Following" />

<p>
The line following behavior is actually quite poor. The robot frequently
leaves the line, especially at corners. You can work on the algorithm to
try to make it more reliable.
</p>
<p>
The line is also very wide, but this does not really matter because it is
the principle that is important. If you change the width of the line, you
will have to move the simulated photo cells on the robot too.
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